Reports: Qaddafi may get liability-free exile
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi
/ Ernesto Ruscio/Getty ImagesIt has been one of the foundational cries of the opposition currently fighting against the despotic Muammar Qaddafi: The tyrant must be held accountable for his wrongs against the people and state of Libya.
Now, however, both the Guardian and the Times newspapers in the U.K. are reporting that negotiations are currently underway to tender an offer to Qaddafi in which he will avoid facing the International Criminal Court if he steps down soon.
In London on Tuesday, diplomats from the UN, Arab states, the African Union and dozens of other countries will meet to discuss humanitarian aid and finding a common front in supporting the NATO-led military action in Libya.
At the meeting, Italy will apparently be leading the effort to find Qaddafi a haven in Africa that is beyond the reach of the ICC, reports the Guardian, as the UN's international court is not recognized by many countries around the world, including the U.S. and China.
Coverage of Obama's speech on LibyaNATO bombs let rebels fight on Qaddafi's turf
Complete Coverage: Anger in the Arab World
"Qaddafi must understand that it would be an act of courage to say: 'I understand that I have to go'," the Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told the Guardian. "We hope that the African Union can find a valid proposal."
Officials for the U.S. and U.K. have said their countries' official position is that Qaddafi must stand trial if and when he is deposed. However, the Times reports both are ready to accept that a deal under which he leaves the country quickly may be in Libya's best interests.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Boat hijack stokes tension between N. Korea, China
- China probes rice tainted with cancer-causing cadmium
- Lebanon reportedly stopping Syria refugees at border
- Hezbollah suffers heavy losses fighting inside Syria
- Syria activists: 31 Hezbollah fighters killed in Qusair
- Israel and Syria exchange fire on Golan Heights
- Russia shows accused U.S. spy heading home
- Visitors evacuate after suicide at Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral
years. Now, all of a sudden we need to spend billions to kick him
out of office. Like it or not, a good number of dictators and
strong-men could be bought out for the right price if they knew
they could go somewhere where they would not have a Carnival/trial
and public hanging. It would save us thousands of lives and
billions in military expense to make these guys "the right offer".
LOL!
Obama and his followers have to get him to step down first.
Spare us CBS
You had us all fooled with that U.N. no-fly-zone strictly to protect the loss of civilian life resolution.
Who could have seen this BIG FAT LIE AND CRIME coming? The U.N. is an organization of such integrity, not a steaming pile of $hit at all.
Is this some attempt to re-ignite due process for war crime prosecutions, to begin of course retro-actively to the invasion of Iraq and war crimes of Israel -- that have left 100's of thousands DEAD and MUTILATED, including PLENTY of women and CHILDREN.
PLENTY OF THOSE killed by war crime acts under Bush and Blair.
PLEEENTYYY.
So if 40 or so diplomats can actually get together and not pull ANOTHER OUTRAGEOUS DOUBLE-STANDARD, where the few the people killed and mutilated, the lesser the chance to prosecute the war crime, then maybe the world will FINALLY....
FINALLY, see justice on behalf of the dead children chopping wood and just trying to get a chance to LIVE.
It is also in the best interest of those Arabic people who seek greater freedom. A quick victory and substantial gains in freedom at the price of letting the "bad guy" escape is better than a long civil war that will destroy their countries and perhaps end in even less freedom. Long drawn out civil wars will only serve to increase the power of extremist groups. Thus increasing the chances of yet less freedom under the new regime when the war ends.
I agree with such a plan that includes many of His family members; leaving their monetary wealth to the people and being exiled to a place where they will all have a meager existance.
Gadaffi, like Saddam, do what they have to do to survive as a leader. Surely he is an evil dictator -- no doubt. But when he leaves another one will take his place. Democracy will not come to Libya without ground troops and going through the painful and expensive process that we went through in Iraq. NATO neither has the money or desire to do that and they shouldn't.
Don't fool yourself, this is not a humanitarian mission. This is a mission to oust a dictator from an oil rich nation which threatens the economic security of the free world. That is all this mission is -- period.
Anyway, let's hope this is not a tale like that of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada, another psychopath whose killings, motivated by ethnic, political, and financial factors, continued throughout his eight-year reign (1971-1979). The exact number of people killed is unknown, but the International Commission of Jurists estimated the death toll at no fewer than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. Amin fled Uganda and went into exile in, ironically enough, Libya [!] and Saudi Arabia, where he lived in peace and luxurious comfort for the remainder of his life.
Try to see the excellent documentary "Mossad's Revenge" (produced by Atlantic Productions and originally aired on Channel 4 in Britain) concerning 'Operation Wrath of God,' the Israeli assassination campaign that was organized in response to the Munich Massacre. The documentary includes interviews with many of the agents involved in the operation.